Women without Men

Iranian video artist and photographer Shirin Neshat won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 2009 Venice Film Festival with Women without Men. We’re pleased to screen this powerful debut feature by the former Wexner Center Residency Award artist.

Women without Men (based on a highly praised magic realist novel by Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipur) offers an exquisitely crafted view of Iran in 1953, when an American-led, British-backed coup d’état brought down a democratically elected prime minister and reinstalled the Shah to power. The visually stunning film weaves together the stories of four individual women during those traumatic days. Neshat’s evocative and imaginative handling of the material explores the social, political, and psychological dimensions of her characters while reflecting on the complex intellectual and religious forces shaping their world. The film has been selected for the Toronto International Film Festival, the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and the 2010 New Directors, New Works series in New York City. (95 mins., 35mm)

Please note: Shirin Neshat unfortunately had to cancel her visit to introduce the screening of this film on Friday, July 30.